Parma Ham Animal Cruelty Allegations

What is ham made out of? Pigs, of course! But are they
treated like animals or like meat machines? Activists for pig welfare have
often released videos of pigs kept in filthy and barren conditions. This time
one of the most famous Italian ham producers: Parma Ham consortium was involved
in animal cruelty accusations, as an undercover investigation found pigs kept
in dire conditions at some of the farms that supply meat for Parma ham.

Parma ham is one of Italy's most famous foods in Italy
and abroad, with more than €1 billion euros of sales each year, producing about
nine million legs of Parma ham a year and employing 50,000 people.

This famous ham bears the EU's prestigious
"protected designation of origin" label, which certifies food and
drink that comes from a particular geographical area and is made according to
long-established production techniques.

The recently released videos, secretly filmed by LAV
(Italian anti-vivisection league) in 6 farms where the famous Parma ham is
produced, showed suffering animals kept in stark and illegal conditions in some
large breading farms in the Lombardy region. The farms in question are
intensive rearing sites in Brescia, Mantua and Cremona, each housing between
3,000 and 10,000 pigs at a time.

Parma ham consortium has replied to the accusations of
animals’ mistreatment saying that none of their 145 meet producers has ever
been reported for or convicted of animal cruelty and urged those behind these
allegations to come forward and immediately report the farms in question, so
that the competent authorities could proceed with the necessary inspections.

It is not known how many of the mistreated pigs ended up
as Parma ham. According to LAV, the tattoos on the filmed animals showed that
they were destined to become cured pork in four of the six farms.

A series of investigations over the last few years have
repeatedly revealed concerning conditions, such as pigs being treated roughly,
and sick pigs being left to die in the corridors between their pens.

This wasn’t the first animal welfare scandal, animal
rights group Essere Animali in 2017 released a video in which workers were
filmed apparently moving animals out of pens using sticks, lifting them by
their legs and throwing them on the floor.

As far as the latest accusations are concerned, Parma ham
industry said these were part of “a smear campaign”. The trade body, the Parma
Ham Consortium, declared that they condemn any violation of animal welfare
standards and that the deplorable conditions shown in the images couldn’t have
escaped the eyes of the official vets in charge of control in the breeding
farms.

According to the Parma Ham Consortium the activists used
their fame just to get more visibility.